The Athena-SWAN program measures progress towards gender equality at UK universities. Credit: Tetra Getty Images Advertisement. A program that grades UK universities on gender equality in science is going global. Versions of the rating scheme have started up in the past two years in Australia and Ireland, and a small-scale pilot begins next month in the United States. The British program, Athena SWAN (Scientific Women’s Academic Network), launched at ten universities in 2005 and has since spread to more than 140 UK institutions. The voluntary scheme relies on universities supplying self-assessments to the Equality Challenge Unit, a non-profit organization that judges the institutions on ... Full story